Accurate registration of serial 3D MR brain images and its application to visualizing change in neurodegenerative disorders

摘要: Purpose: To propose and assess methods that permit the accurate robust registration of serially acquired 3D MR scans to demonstrate their application in neurodegenerative disorders.Method: T1-weighted brain images were obtained on two or more occasions from 10 normal subjects 8 patients with disorders (scan intervals 3-21 months). Variants an automated procedure compared according goodness robustness match subjects. Consistency was measured using scan triplets. Change visualized by ''difference overlay images.''Results: A multiresolution method necessary for registration. Significant improvements registering control produced voxel size correction (p < 0.05), matching only voxels sine interpolation 0.05). Fast resampling 20 times faster than equivalent previous method. Subvoxel accuracy demonstrated. Difference showed little cerebral change subjects; Alzheimer disease patients, characteristic patterns atrophy observed even as short 3 months.Conclusion: This methodology permits subvoxel comparison routinely serial scans. It is a sensitive tracking rates neuroanatomical change.